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Date: Thu, 01 Oct 1998 10:02:02 -0500
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Subject: Re: starting IFR training...what to expect?
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Victoria Deaton wrote:
 
> I have the Jepp Instr/commercial book, the Gleim instrument exam prep > book, and FS98. Now what?:-) (....)
> Any tips on making the instrument rating move along as inexpensively 
> as possible would be appreciated.

Well, a couple of suggestions wrt money.  

Get a set of outdated approach plates and enroute charts, from
a local pilot supply shop or another pilot.  Study them as you
read about them in your text.  Get both Jeppeson and NOS charts
and plates so you can get a feel for the differences and which
you might prefer.  You'll buy current plates when you start flying,
but why waste the money now.

Investigate what local community colleges offer in the way of 
aviation training.  I learned that one local community college
offered ground school (which I didn't take) and also offered
simulator training at $17/hr (including the instructor), and one
didn't have to be enrolled in ground school to use it.  So I got
20 loggable hours of simulator time and instrument instruction for
$340.  It wasn't a fancy simulator, but it did well for teaching
procedures.

After the first couple lessons, I coordinated this with plane time 
and coordinated my simulator lessons with my airplane CFII so that 
I would go over something in the simulator, then go fly it.  My CFII
seemed to feel this had a very beneficial effect on my grasp of holds
and NDB approaches, two common sticking points in his experience.

Another suggestion.  Fly as a safety pilot for other people doing
instrument training as much as you can.  Put up a note on FBO
bulletin boards making this offer if you don't know anyone.  Don't
neglect your primary job (looking for traffic) but ask the pilot
to explain what they're going to do on the ground and talk through
the procedure in the air if they're comfortable with it. 

I've heard the opinion that you don't gain much flying skill 
watching someone else fly a procedure, but I disagree.  I think 
it was very valuable to me.  Instrument flying is all about 
being able to divide your attention between flying precisely, 
following a procedure precisely, and communicating with ATC.  
The more any one of the three is second nature, the easier the 
other two will come. 

After you've flown a bit with a CFII, get other pilots to reciprocate
and go practice with a safety pilot. You need fewer hours of instruction
than you do hours of instrument flying time, so this can also save
money.

Last but not least, see what Interlibrary Loan can do for you in the
way of books.  I like "The Instrument Flight Training Manual" by
Peter Dogan and "Mastering Instrument Flying" by Henry Sollman and
Sherwood Harris; as a supplement, I like Rod Machado's "Instrument
Pilot's Survival Manual".  Different books have different ways of
explaining different concepts, so if one explanation doesn't "click"
another might do the trick.

Snowbird

